The Difference between Gamblers and Those who Gamble
by WeaponOfMassSeduction
Summary: When they were kids Naruto and Sasuke met at the orphanage where they became best friends. However, as anyone can tell you, an orphanage is never meant to be a permanent home and both moved away at some point in time. Now, at 15 they meet again, but what happens when they don't recognize each other? Even more, don't like each other?


**Summary: When they were kids Naruto and Sasuke met at the orphanage where they became best friends. However, as anyone can tell you, an orphanage is never meant to be a permanent home and both moved away at some point in time. Now, at 16 they meet again, but what happens when they don't recognize each other? Even more, don't like each other?**

**Pairing: NaruSasu/SasuNaru**

**Dislaimer: I don't own nor will I ever, this amazing team belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. I hope this is evident and I won't have to do this again because that'd be redundant.**

**Warnings: Language for now and some possible grammatical errors**

**A/N: Note in the prologue the tense is a bit weird because it's like future (more future than first chapter) and past mingled, so if it sounds weird, then that's that. And yeah I mean the character's might be a tad OOC in the beginning (Especially the depressed Naruto BUT HE CHANGES) but it just a little freedom on my part. Well I hope you guys enjoy this. Thanks for choosing!**

**Please note that since it might be confusing the second paragraph he's talking of Sasuke and his father. Another confusing thing Naruto isn't actually adopted until 8 hours later.**

Prologue:

If you were to look at us individually then my story started before me. They didn't like to talk about my parents but when I was young sometimes they would let things slip about them: her hair color was a red he found breathtaking, his was like mine, uncontrollable and bright blond that she found charming, he was on the fast track to an important political career, 'was going to do something special for the world' as they would say, and she was weak. Deathly weak. But both wanted children and both were willing to take the ultimate gamble in having one. A gamble that was between life and death. My life. Her death. His death. My life. They never told me that they were bad gamblers but then again I guess that wasn't necessary.

His story started thirteen years ago when his dad also partook in the same gamble. Only his problem was different than my parents. He was good. Too good and this was recognized by somebody somewhere and sometimes it's even worse to be a good gambler than a bad one. When we were kids and I would ask, he would describe it as seeing the bodies one the floor was like seeing 'slaughtered hens'. Only now do I realize that the phrase is 'slaughtered lambs' but then again they weren't ever really innocent, even in death.

But our story, the one we share, started 10 years ago when we met.

**10 years ago**:

Our story started at a place on a road with barely any passing cars called Senju's Orphanage for Boys. It was named after the current Owner/Overseer's grandfather's last name that was also the founder. A home for those who didn't have a home or a prison for those innocent of crime. Depending on the day depended on what we saw it as. That particular night it was the prison.

"Sit here and stay." The man told me, crouching down in front of the small plastic chair I was placed on. I looked at him, but not really seeing him, not really wanting to as all I would see was another face to remember and pity. I hated pity. He tried to comfortingly pat my hair before he stood up once again to go talk to the lady who was anxiously waiting for him, a lady that I actually _did_ remember.

They tried whispering in hushed voices but I was used to that and could hear. After all, I needed to be to be mentally prepared for this life and not knowing what people were saying was never really helpful. I looked down at my hands in my lap so that even if I heard their voices then I wouldn't have to see them look at me as if I was already dying in front of them. "What was the reason this time?" She asked. This time. Because to say this happened only once was always the biggest lie I would ever say.

"Said he was getting in too many fights with the other children. I tried talking to him about it on the way here but he's been silent since I've picked him up. Haven't said a word. Maybe he'll talk to you?"

I heard her loud clacking heels of footsteps and his softer ones heading towards me but didn't look up. "Naruto, look up, kiddo." It took a few moments but I did look up. Like him, she crouched before me and put one of her creamy pale, manicured hands on my shoulder. Her chocolate eyes enticed with warmth that someone had to carry themselves when they had this job because you couldn't look for it in the kids, "Do you want to tell me what happened this time?"

No. No I don't. I puckered my face, feeling like I had swallowed something sour, "They were talking about my parents again, saying they died on purpose because no one would ever want to live with me intentionally. Called me demon child too, saying it was a 'wonder no one else died the night I was born'."

She closed her eyes looking very old and very worn, even as a forty-year-old woman she never looked as old as she did when she did that tired face. She reopened them, "So you attacked them?"

I looked away. She sounded like she didn't get it, even if she did. My parents couldn't speak up and say otherwise to those kids' words so it was my word over theirs and sometimes they said things louder. "I don't regret it."

"Of course you don't."

"Tsunade, it sounds like Naruto had every reason to-"

"Of course he had reason to but don't you _get it_? Now he's out of a foster home again! It's hard finding a family when your record keeps getting bigger and bigger!" She snapped, seeming to forget about me. See how I said they let things slip? He gave her a pointed look at me and she turned back horrified, "Oh my god, Naruto, I didn't mean-"

"I DON'T CARE! I DON'T WANT TO GO BACK!" I shouted, "JIRAIYA WILL COME AND GET ME AND I'LL BE WAITING HERE." Jiraiya was my godfather, an important figure in my dad's life. Shortly after my parents' deaths he left and the only reason I knew of him is because Tsunade was friends with him and I would hear of her whispering about him from time to time. He was my one tie to my parents.

"Naruto, Jiraiya left a long, long time ago. We've been trying to contact him for a while but nothing has come up. You have to stay here again while we try to find you another family. A _permanent_ one."

"I want him." I said stoutly, having nothing of this 'new family' because 'new families' always became 'old families', just like clockwork.

She searched my eyes but there was never really anything that could be said to a five year old to make them see reason so she just sighed and lifted her hand off my shoulder, standing up, and running it through her long, pale blond hair. "Come on, let's get your bed ready for tonight." She dismissed the social worker that gave me another sympathetic pat before getting up and leaving.

For a second I stayed on the chair looking around at the misleading cheerful looking room that didn't feel cheerful at all before slipping off and following after her.

She led us to the boy's room and opened the door to a bunch of rowdy kids, all range of ages who were doing everything from horsing around to actually sleeping. They all quieted as she walked though, her high heels clacking once again heavily against the floor was the only real noise. Before following her I looked at the faces, some I recognized, some I didn't, before I scampered after her, clinging onto her leg. She didn't slow in her stride, and only gave me a brief look before she led me to one of the quieter corners of the bunk beds.

The one she stopped in front of had _him_. Same age as me but to clarify that was the only similarity. He was a pale creamy color with fine, black hair that stuck out in tufts at random places, especially the back. His face could honestly have been mistaken for a girl as he was just that pretty with the petite nose, flawless skin, and large obsidian eyes. He was focusing on his model car as he tinkered with it. Finally he looked up when Tsunade coughed. His cool look made me hide even farther behind her.

"Sasuke, this will be your new bunkmate, Naruto." The look he gave her said 'why do I care?'. She continued, "Naruto, Sasuke is one of the newer kids so you won't have recognized him. Sasuke, Naruto is one of the mobile kids, he's in between homes right now so just get along alright?" Neither of us responded so she took that as a good sign. "Good." She turned to leave but I still had my hands tangled in her pant legs. She sighed and looked down at me, encouragingly, "Don't worry, Naruto, you'll be out of here soon enough." Slowly I let go and allowed her to leave.

Once she was gone everyone resumed what they were doing before and the room once again had the humming of multiple voices speaking at once. I looked back at Sasuke but he was already focusing on his toy car. Just as I was about to crawl up the ladder a hand stopped me. I turned and my throat constricted. It was two of the older kids, Deidara a blond eight year old and Sasori, a redheaded ten year old, both of whom weren't the nicest kids. Something I knew first handed.

Deidara looked at me grinning wickedly with his one visible eye. He faked boredom by tugging at random strands of his dark blond hair, "So you're back, hmm? What was that? Two months? Huh that's quite the record."

Sasori was the type who only showed emotion when it was fake, so his smile, wasn't one to put trust in, "Isn't that a little too long? I would've thrown you back first day." I just blushed profusely in anger and embarrassment, which gave him fuel, "Ahhh it was your fault again, wasn't it?" He laughed a horrible laugh because it sounded so pleasant as if we were exchanging jokes.

"NO!" I yelled.

Deidara grinned wider, letting go of his hair, "What, were you a sniffling crybaby again and couldn't take the truth? Your parents didn't want you. From what I heard, they knew she would die if she had you, hmm."

He stepped forward and I launched myself at him, pounding at his stomach, "SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP! YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING!"

Sasori just grabbed my hair and yanked me back, making my eyes water but I refused to cry in pain. He looked at me coldly with a raised eyebrow, "Well, with that logic neither do you."

"Hey, Sasori, my man, hold him, I need to get back at the little parasite for hitting me."

"With pleasure."

I refused to wince as Deidara pulled back a fist to punch me, which he would've had a voice not stopped him, "Picking on a four year old? Can you guys get even lamer?" We all turned around to see Sasuke looking disinterestedly at us, a look where anywhere else would've been an unreasonable face for a child so young. He looked down pointedly at Sasori's exposed hand, "Well, I guess you could always paint your nails."

I braced myself to watch this kid get beat up because of me. Weird thing was Sasori actually let go and Deidara growled but also lowered his arm. I rubbed at my scalp watching as they walked away muttering about 'buzz kill'. I looked back at him but he was back to playing with his toy.

Shyly I crawled onto his bunk, which made him stop immediately and glare at me, "What are you doing? Get off my bed."

I shook my head crawling over to him and looping my arms around him snuggling to his rigid form, not bothered, "Thank you."

"Whatever. Just get off!"

He began shoving his hand against my face but I wouldn't have any of it and just kept my face buried against his chest, "Please. I'm scared alone. Bad thoughts happen."

He seemed to relent and stopped in his shoving, "You mean like what they were talking about?" I nodded weakly. "… Fine. BUT just for tonight, okay?"

I looked up at him and beamed, "Thank you!" I thought about something for a moment, "I'm five, by the way."

He nodded dismissively and set down his toy, sighing and scooting under the covers, allowing me to rest my head against his arm and curl up into a ball and fell asleep at his side. That night I didn't have any nightmares.

I awoke, yawning and stretching, at first not too sure where I was and why I was in someone's bed before it settled that once again I got kicked out. A very heavy feeling set in my stomach. Tiredly I looked up and saw Sasuke peering down at me with his black eyes, "Why do people treat you that way like they did last night?"

I seemed to shrink as I mumbled, "I'm not liked very much."

"But why?" He asked and I wanted to tell someone. He seemed to be the only one willing to befriend me, so why not him?

"Both parents died on the same night so they say I'm bad luck and a murderer. My legal guardian also left without a trace so they call me the 'ultimate unwanted'." I responded miserably.

"That's stupid."

I looked up, surprised at his disapproving look, "That they'd say that?"

"Well yeah but more so because you'd believe them." He replied bluntly. I glanced back down, ashamed that I told him. He caught on to my look, "You don't look good like that. You look pretty mopey and sad. You definitely look a lot better smiling like last night."

I sniffled looking at him, "Really?"

Sasuke looked at me and nodded once. A wide grin broke across my face and that's where our friendship started. For the next year and half we grew insanely close. He changed me from the depressed kid who hated being looked at twice to somebody who didn't mind living in an orphanage. We became inseparable and did everything together. He knew me inside out the same way I knew him and even though we were both children, we never really naïve, as our pasts never allowed that for us.

The day came though when one of us had to be adopted and it wasn't me who was leaving.

**Nine years ago**:

We sat on the curb outside the orphanage as his adopted parents finished the final papers inside with Tsunade. I had my knees sprawled on the road as I sat there drawing imaginary things with a stick, "So you're leaving." I said for the billionth time because it still didn't seem real.

Sasuke just silently nodded. He hadn't really talked much since he found out he was going to be adopted. To be honest, I don't think he wanted another family. Maybe he thought they'd replace his old one or that he just couldn't handle it but for whatever reason, he didn't want to leave.

"You'll enjoy it! You will get to watch T.V and play video games, have your own room, eat lots of treats, and go places! It'll be fun!" I tried encouraging him but he didn't seem impressed. Finally I halted my movements with the stick and looked at him, "I'm gonna miss you."

He looked up too and met my eyes this time, "Me too." Usually he didn't respond so sincerely or actually show emotion, but it was our last time seeing each other as we both realized.

As if on que his new parents walked out with Tsunade following slower, and hustled to him, scooping up his six-year-old frame in a group hug. The lady placed a firm kiss on his cheek and looked at him adoringly, "You're just the cutest thing ever. You'll love it, our house is big and there's a swimming pool and lost of toys!" He just blinked up at her but she didn't seem to notice as she placed him back on the floor, "Say good bye to your little friend and hurry over to the car." Hurry. Because she was never there at the orphanage. Never saw our bond formed. If she was then she'd know it was just something that couldn't be hurried.

She left to the car with her husband and they started the engine. I looked back at him, "This is it."

"Yeah."

"We'll meet again."

"Yeah." But this time he didn't sound as if he actually believed his words.

"Stop being a downer, Sasuke! We'll see each other again! Believe it!" It was a joke of ours when I said it once after he said real people don't have catch phrases. He smiled a half smile before I hugged him in a squeezing bear hug, one that he only partook in with a small placement of his hand. Finally I let go and grinned, waving him off. He looked at me for a moment longer before hopping in the car and only after he left did I allow for my smile to drop and reached once again for Tsunade's pant leg.

I was alone again in the orphanage for a year. The tormenting started up again but it was different this time around because I was different. I didn't allow for them to beat me down as much and instead of crying I would act out by getting my own little revenge. The day Deidara beat me up was coupled with a night where I snuck over to his bunk and cut his hair in the morning to where he looked like a shaved Barbie. But, really I was just lonely. At nights I slept in Sasuke's bunk, thinking about the one person who I could consider a friend.

It wasn't until I was about to turn seven when Tsunade had found me a parent. When I first saw him he seemed really unimpressive, bland in everything, including appearance. He had brown hair, brown eyes, tan skin as if he spent a lot of time outside, and the only thing different was his scar. With everyone in the orphanage looking so distinct, it was easy to imagine my own dismissing him.

**Eight Years Ago**:

"NARUTO, I'M GOING TO FUCKING KILL YOU, YOU MUTANT!" Sasori cursed as he chased me after I put his wooden blocks he'd been chipping at for the last couple months in water overnight.

I laughed, dancing out of his reach each and every time, running circles in the lobby.

Tsunade stood there talking to a man and grinning a strained smile. Finally as I weaved between them and Sasori also ran she tugged on his shirt just as he ran by making him yelp. I turned around and stuck out my tongue at him and gave him a raspberry. Her hand clenched as she watched that in the peripheral but to her skill, she kept on that smile, although her eye twitched every now and again, "As you can see, you are making a very wise decision. He's a very… playful kid who… plays with his friends here all the time. Why, he's always at the center of everyone's focus. A really good kid." She sounded like she was selling a car, not finding one of us a home. Maybe it required the same skill sometimes.

I stopped and quirked my head, "Who's he payin' for?" I asked.

She looked at me smiling pleasantly but it was a smile that if you were at the receiving end enough then you knew it meant she was trying hard not to punch you in front of the potential family, "We've been over this, Naruto. It's not _buying and paying._ It's adopting. And you he's adopting _you_." Even Sasori had stopped from trying to wiggle from her grasp. We both just looked at her as if she said the most preposterous thing in the world. Which in our world, she had.

"What, _Naruto_? That soul sucking leech that can't do shi-" She clamped a hand against Sasori's mouth and there was a muffled yelp.

She looked at the man, who I was now looking at too, like he was joking, "Kids think it's so funny, you know?"

He looked down at me and got down to eye level, which was saying a lot as I was always short. He smiled very friendly like, "Hey, Naruto, what do you say about coming home with me?"

I looked from him back to Tsunade, back to him, back to her, "He looks really plain and boring, can't you find someone else?"

There was a visible vein popping in both their foreheads, "Naruto!" She chastened.

"No, don't worry, it means he open. Which I like in kids."

"But do _kids_ like you?" Sasori asked after being able to pry Tsunade's hand off his mouth. Really, it wasn't a wonder why neither of us seemed to get adopted.

She cuffed his ear, which he glared at reproachfully. The man looked at him and smiled, nodding, "Actually yes."

"Really? I find that hard to believe."  
"OKAY, SASORI. That's enough of you." She shoved him away but smiled, as if the kid stumbling was all just a charade. He rubbed his ear but after the initial steps ran back to join the others. "That kid will go on to great things in life." She said, kind of sounding sarcastic if not a little defeated, but still with some forced optimism.

"You mean terri-"

"NO, NARUTO, I mean great." She looked down at me with fiery eyes for a moment before she sweetened once again, "Why don't you go pack your things and we'll just finish things up here."

I thought about actually listening but the thought of going into a room where everyone knew would be my last time seeming me and their last time to torment me, especially Sasori, wasn't very pleasing to my imagination so I jut shook my head, "Nah, I'll wait here."

The man looked down and fished through his pocket, pulling out a Gameboy SP, "Here play this. Do you know how?"

I eagerly grabbed it from his hand, "_Duh_." I was already turning it on and playing Crash Bandicoot.

He just smiled genuinely, not offended, and went over to sign the papers.

It wasn't more than thirty minutes later when they came back. "Okay, Naruto, this is it." I grinned and ran into her chest, which was just a really big rack. She squeezed me hard. Honestly, Tsunade, and however much I disliked it, the boys were my only true family I ever had. So somewhere in the back of my mind, I really hoped she was wrong.

The man grinned and I was led outside to his beat up minivan and was somewhat disappointed that he wasn't rich. Well, I looked over at him again, I guess he wasn't really anything special. The guy still hadn't told me his name after all.

He opened the back door, which I jumped into. It was a good thing Orphans never listened to 'Don't hop in a car with a stranger', but then again it was usually told by parents. I buckled my seat belt and looked back, staring kind of wistfully at Tsunade's waving form and the Senju's Orphanage for Boys behind her.

The man hopped in and started up the car, smiling the entire time. He grinned back at me through the mirror, "We're going to have so much fun, you and I."

I looked up at him and gave him a look saying 'we'll see'. He laughed and started driving down the road, whistling to some old people's song. It was thirty minutes in when he slapped his forehead, "I never told you my name, no wonder you have a bad impression of me! It's Iruka."

To be fair, he did prove a lot more fun than I expected him to be and he definitely attempted to squash a lot of the brat out of me but I wouldn't let go of who I was, because that would mean letting go of my past, a thing that would get cloudier and cloudier as I subconsciously tried to repress the memories as I got older. I still remembered the people but the names and faces, besides Tsunade's of course, became less distinct. I would think of _him_ from time to time but never did I really see a face, nor name with the memories. That's okay, he left me something much more important than a face. He left me.

**Two Weeks ago**:

"Naruto, come down here! We have things to talk about!"

I groaned as I put down the controller and flopped off the bed. I shuffled out of my room and down the stairs, halting at the middle, "Sup?"

He looked at me, shaking his head, "Really, Naruto ten extra steps and you'd be down here." I grinned but otherwise didn't respond. Again he shook his head, dismissively, "Whatever. Anyways, it's kind of spur of the moment but I got a really good job opportunity down in California, one I couldn't resist. So we're moving!"

I looked at Iruka, dead panning. I didn't realize it yet but in two weeks time I would see Sasuke again. Only neither of us would know it.

-xx-

**A/N: Okay so that was that. You guys are the first to read this so I have no idea whether it was good or not which would be cool if you guys reviewed and gave me feedback. What do you guys think, should it be continued? Everything is of the utmost appreciated!**

**Just thought someone should know: I'm in Starbucks right now and I just looked up and made eye contact with my Brother's friend. What is this coinicence thing? Gotta go, excuse any other stuff and just ask if you're confused, my friend is tearing me away talking about 'Homework" or something. Pshh.**


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